Bearing assemblies are used in a wide variety of applications including radial applications where relative movement is managed between inner and outer components such as a shaft and a housing, such as a hinge assembly. They can take numerous forms including ball bearings containing bearing balls, roller bearings including needle, journal bearings, plain bearings, and tapered roller bearings.
Typically, bearing assemblies may include bearing components that include metals. However, in the metal consuming industries, such as automotive industries, may exhibit undesired corrosion characteristics such as (i) uniform corrosion, (ii) crevice corrosion, (iii) pitting corrosion, (iv) cosmetic corrosion, and (v) galvanic corrosion. Further, some bearing components exhibit undesired stiffness and less stable torque characteristics. Also, in some bearing components that use metal meshes, there exists a creation of burrs during manufacture that amplify undesired characteristics.
As such, there exists a need for bearing components and bearing assemblies that have improved properties and performance.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.